In 1988, fully 43
years after the Holocaust, Katriel Lashowitz published a
memoir about Volkovysk in Tel Aviv titled
"Volkovysk:
The Story of a Jewish-Zionist Community." Lashowitz was
well-aware of Moses Einhorn's 1949Wolkowysker Yizkor
Book , but concerned that it was inaccessible to younger
Israelis because it had been written in Yiddish. He
enlisted the aid of other Volkovyskers and penned his own
story, focusing primarily on the Holocaust period.

Included in this
book was a short section on Porozow, which was translated
into English and republished by Jacob Solomon Berger, who
has graciously given permission to reprint his translation here. Anyone interested in purchasing
Jacob's work, which includes translations of the 1949
Einhorn book as well as of Hurban Volkovysk (1942), is welcome to contact him via
e-mail.

Porozow - English Translation

About six hundred Jews lived in Porozovo, nearly all of them
living in the four streets and few byways alongside them.
Apart from a few farmers, most of the Jews who lived there
made a living at trades, commerce and store keeping, as was
the case in most towns of the area. The economic and
spiritual center of the Jews was Volkovysk, and it was also
the last station before they were sent to the death camps.

During the brief period of the Russian regime in the town,
beginning in October 1939, the Jews continued with their way
of life. Trades people were forced to organize themselves
into cooperatives, but they made a living from their trades.
There were no big-time "capitalists" in Porozovo, and the
Soviets didn't have anyone to exile in Siberia, as was their
custom in the larger cities, but they did manage to put
pressure on the small merchants and the store keepers whose
stores had been closed. Opposite this, there was no change
at all in the lives of those who worked the land, who kept
on doing so as they had done since time immemorial.

Porozow - Original Hebrew

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page.

On June 24, 1941, the sounds of the exchange of gunfire
between the Germans and the Russians could already be heard
in the town, and German vehicles could be seen in the area.
After a few days, the fire reached the town, and a specific
part of it was consumed in flames (including the
Schulhof,
the old and new Bet HaMedrash, the community hall,
etc.). The Jews didn't even try to put out the fire, because
most, if not all of them, went into hiding out of fear of
the Germans, who destroyed the houses where the Jews lived,
and took a number of Jews out to be killed that same day,
for no reason. On Thursday of that week, the Soviet soldiers
had the upper hand in their battle with the Germans and they
returned to the town, but on the following day, German
reinforcements arrived, and drove all the Russians out of
Porozovo. All of the decrees used against the Jews (yellow
badges, prohibitions against commerce, and many other
prohibitions) were publicized during those first days of
German occupation. The Jews were ordered to elect a
Judenrat, but there were none particularly leaping at
the job, because the nature of the responsibilities were
well-known.

During the three months from September - November 1941,
there was relative quiet in the town, but the economic
condition got unbearably bad. The real power in the town at
that time was the town head, a Pole named Radivinsky. The
head of the Judenrat was the baker, Lev, who
succeeded in a number of instances to get several decrees
abated by means of bribing the Germans and Poles. Refugees
from nearby villages began to reach the town, and the Jews
of Porozovo tried to assist them, even if their means were
severely limited. At the end of the summer of 1942, a new
German commissar arrived in the town, who increased the
pressure on the Jews, even though he also benefited from
receiving bribes and payoffs.

In general, one can say that there was a very effective
partnership between the Germans and Poles, in all matter
pertaining to making life miserable for the Jews, surprise
searches of their homes, etc. There was no ghetto in
Porozovo, but the entire Jewish population was compelled to
do all manner of forced labor for the Germans, never less
than 10 hours a day. One day, they arrested all the young
people in the town, but after a week, they were let go,
thanks to the efforts of the Judenrat, which greased
the palms of the local people. After several months, a
ghetto was erected that stretched for two blocks: the entry
road up to Zapolia and Novy Dwor Gasse. The crowding
in this small ghetto was literally awesome, and the sanitary
conditions caused the onset of disease, epidemics and death.

On one of the nights, all the Jews were ordered to assemble
in the marketplace square, and from there, a trek began in
the direction of Volkovysk. Only mothers and small children
were permitted to ride in wagons. About fifty old and sick
people were left behind in the town. Thirty of them were
later transferred to Volkovysk, but the rest were taken out
and killed. All the Jews that were transferred from Porozovo
were interred in bunkers, in which the Jews of other towns
in the vicinity were already imprisoned, and after a time,
they were sent to the death camps.